Boy-Snape

When Sirius reached the potions classroom he was only a little surprised to see Joan waiting outside of it with her brother and sister. While other students streaming past the trio going to and fro from the class gave them strange looks and double-takes, Sirius waved at the three before he turned to his mates gathered around him and said, "I'll meet you inside, okay?"

Remus and Peter agreed easily and began to walk ahead of him while James lingered a moment. His friend gave his arm a short squeeze to catch his gaze and then winked at Sirius. "She's cute, but don't chat her up too much in front of her brother."

Sirius rolled his eyes at his best mate. "Thanks, James," he snarked, "but it's not like that."

James laughed. "Oh, I love you mate, but you're thick," he told Sirius before he sped off to catch up with Peter and Remus as they entered the potions classroom. Briefly, Sirius thought about calling out to his mate about the pot calling the kettle black since everyone knew how he felt about Lily even if he was still denying it for the time being. Sirius, Remus, and Peter had started a bet with Lily's dormmates about when the two would finally confess to each other their mutual feelings and snog it out. He and Jennifer Brown thought they'd be a couple when they came back from Christmas holidays, but the rest had settled for much sooner. Remus was especially convinced the Halloween party they planned to throw in the Gryffindor common room with the smuggled crate of whiskey they had stored in their dorm room would really help to loosen the pair's inhibitions. Time would prove him and Jen right as far as he was concerned.

With a minute shake of his head toward the open classroom, Sirius let go of his thoughts on his mates and turned toward the Moons. As he sauntered over to the trio, Joan grinned and reached out to him for a hug, which Sirius obliged and returned. When she pulled back, she told him, "I'm leaving now." She paused and bit her lip. A little shyer than before, she asked, "Would you mind terribly much if I wrote to you sometimes?"

"No, not even a little bit," he assured her. "I was actually going to tell you to not be a stranger! I want to know all about how well you're settling in and when you'll be coming to Hogwarts. There's so much I want to show you…" he trailed off, realizing that maybe he might be sounding a little pushy. He glanced at Jack Moon, who just glared at him while Janice Moon giggled into her hands. He flushed a little. Sirius had just been trying to show his gratitude and appreciation to Joan for all she'd done for him and Severus the past few days, but he was realizing it must really look like he fancied his newest mate.

Joan didn't seem aware of any of this, however, as she simply beamed and nodded eagerly. "Yes, of course," she promised. "The headmaster has already promised I have a place here at Hogwarts if I want it next year."

"Oh Merlin!" he exclaimed, delighted on her behalf. "That's wicked."

Janice snaked an arm around her sister's shoulders and said, "We're just as pleased for our little sister." She sighed a little, looking regretful at Joan, then him. "But you two will have to talk all about it later. We have to go so we can at least start to get things in order before the day's over. Joan, you need clothes and things, we need to start looking into tutors, set you up in one of our flats while we look for one we can all share…"

Joan flushed. "Right, sorry," she mumbled. "I'll write to you as soon as I've settled in a bit, okay, Sirius?"

Sirius nodded. "Sounds brilliant," he agreed. Then, after a moment, as he started to watch the three go, he called, "Hey, did you say goodbye to Severus too?"

The girl smiled, eyes soft. "Yes," she answered. "I saw the headmaster and that small professor, Flitswish? Come into the infirmary just as we were leaving. I imagine he's the right age again now."

Sirius felt his stomach churn, but he dipped his chin and smiled. "Great," he replied. "See you around, Joan! By Jack, Janice."

They all waved at him before Jack took charge and led his sisters away, likely to the Headmaster's office so they could floo to one of the older siblings' homes.

After they were out of sight, Sirius turned his attention to the open doorway of the potions classroom. He knew he should go in and listen to Slughorn's lecture. He'd missed plenty of class already and potions never had been his best subject either. Yet…

He turned away and began the trek back to Hogwarts's infirmary.

-o-O-o-

When he pushed open the infirmary's large doors, Sirius wasn't even a little surprised that Madam Pomfrey's piercing gaze and heavy frown was what met him first. He smiled at the nurse and tried to come off as innocently as possible when he said, "Hello, Madam Pomfrey."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Shouldn't you be in potions right now, Mr. Black?"

He winced. "Well…" he muttered, rubbing his chin as he floundered for an excuse. A stomachache, perhaps?

The nurse sighed and pointed at a bed, the one kid Severus had slept in, with the curtain pulled around it. "He is there," she told him. "I suggested he take a kip before lunch since I know his sudden growth spurt must have been quite tiring." Madam Pomfrey stepped forward and leaned in to whisper to Sirius, "but I'm quite sure he's just fuming behind those curtains about how I wouldn't let him leave for classes, or, rather, his dorm."

Sirius chuckled. "Thanks." After one last shared smile with the nurse, he strolled over to Severus's bed, only to hesitate. He couldn't just pull back the curtains, could he? He and the kid had been mates, yet this was… Snape. The guy he'd spoken his undying hatred for not even a week ago. Sirius brought a hand up to run it through his hair as he stressed over the possibility of doing this all wrong and ruining his chance of keeping Severus for a friend at the age he was now.

Before he had to make a decision between calling out and just opening the curtain, a familiar, not quite realized timber, told him, "You may as well open the bloody curtain. I can see your shadow."

He laughed a moment before doing just that. When he did, Sirius was confronted with the realization that the kid was really gone. Or, rather, grown up. It'd been easy to see Snape in Severus, but now he could see Severus in Snape. It boggled the mind, to say the least. Pulling in a stool just on the other side of the curtains, Sirius put it next to Severus's bedside and sat on it before he closed the curtains closed behind him.

When he returned his attention to Severus, Sirius found that he couldn't look away from the other. After a moment, Severus scoffed and practically threw his gaze away from Sirius. Feeling that he could now ask without upsetting Severus and get a good, proper answer to boot, he questioned, "Did you just read my fucking mind?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "Don't be so moronic," he muttered. "Legilimency is not mind-reading."

Sirius's hands went to his head. "Oh Merlin, you did. And you were doing it as a kid too!"

The other teenager scowled and balled his hands into fists. "It wasn't intentional then," he muttered. "Princes have always had a… knack for the skill and it was always more than just that for me. You could say, in some ways, legilimency was and is nearly intuitive to me."

Sirius could hardly believe what he was hearing. He'd read places that some skills witches and wizards could learn were, in fact, more heritable and instinctual than others, but to know that Snape had not only been able to perform wandless magic at eight but use honest-to-Merlin legilimency too… Well, it was no wonder their feud had gone on so long and that Severus had always been able to keep up with the four of them. He'd probably been reading their fucking minds the entire time. "Mental. That's absolutely mental," he breathed.

"You're one to talk about madness, Black! It's not as if your family is known for its sanity," snapped Severus.

Sirius felt his temper rise and he nearly yelled back something bitterly cruel, but bit his lip in the end and glared hotly at Severus for a time. When he finally could speak with some measure, he hissed out, "That… Wasn't… What… I… Said…"

The other teenager blinked. Then, he crossed his arms and grumbled, "You could have fooled me."

He frowned, but otherwise kept tongue firmly checked. After a couple of awkward minutes where Severus wouldn't so much as look at him, Sirius found the words he'd been looking for since he first sat down. "I meant it, you know. I'll still be your mate if you'll have me."

Severus's eyes were once again on him. They blazed like hot coals as his lips pulled back to into a feral snarl. "I do not want nor need your pity!" he growled.

Flabbergasted, Sirius could only say, "What?"

"I was a pathetic child," replied Severus in a tone dripping with self-loathing. "Weak, carrying on for… for…" he trailed off in a stammer, his Adam's apple bobbing beneath the thin skin of his throat.

Sirius's heart twisted for the pain he knew Severus had to be feeling. His mother had been important to him and, really, she wasn't too long dead everything considered. He tried to put a hand on one of the other teenager's fists, but Severus jerked away and lifted his other menacingly. Sirius put up both his hands and leaned back. "Hey," he said. "I just want you to know I didn't think you were any of those things. You… You did really well out there for eight," he paused and realized he needed to correct himself. "You were brilliant for an eight-year-old with a broken arm."

Severus scoffed and Sirius resisted the urge to grab the other's face and make him look at him. He was pretty sure Severus wouldn't take it like he had at eight and may very well knock his teeth in if he tried. Instead, he settled for touching Severus's leg, even as he jerked away. "Mate, I mean it. If I'd been the one who was eight, I wouldn't have survived our first night out there."

"I'm not your mate," Severus sneered. "Do not call me that!"

Sirius felt like someone had knifed him, but he nodded and tried to smile all the same. "Sure, whatever, Severus," he agreed. "Just know I also meant it when I said I wasn't going to let you go around with Avery or Mulciber anymore." He gave the other a dark smirk. "I reckon you'll get desperate for company – and a mate – soon enough."

Severus's expression was one of utter outrage. "You cannot be serious," he muttered.

He laughed. "Hell yeah I am!" he declared. "My bloody name is Sirius."

The other teenager groaned into his hands at his horrific pun and Sirius didn't even blame him. Those jokes had worn thin years ago with friends and nemeses alike. But he'd never been able to resist an opportunity…

"I room with them," Severus reminded Sirius.

He shrugged, flippant. "Eh," he said. "That's not going to stop me, you'll see."

Severus stared back, silent, a mulishness glinting in his gaze. "No, you will see," he hissed back.

Sirius laughed. "I guess this will prove once and for all which of is the most stubborn, yeah?"

The other only pursed his lips, as his shoulders sank with the daunting realization that Sirius meant all he'd said and more to him when he was a kid. Severus knew just as well as him there was going to be no winning in what was to come and looked like he was already nursing the start of a migraine. As for Sirius, he was pleased. Severus would come around soon enough, he was sure— If only because it was the easier, less painful path to take. It was only pride that kept him from bowing to the inevitable here and now.

There's only one more chapter to go guys! How did you enjoy the last scene with Joan? Severus and Sirius's first conversation where they're the same age?

Thanks for reading :)